Theory Into Practice
I have focused my teaching on film & media since graduating from both the London Film School and then the Department of Educational Studies at Oxford University/Balliol.
A later MA in Media Education from the Institute of Education, The University of London has more recently provided the research basis for my 2007 book publication, “Jacobean Visions…” (2007, pp. 201).
Recent 2008 – 2009 updates include:
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appointment to teach as Associate Professor at the Arts Faculty, Drama & Film, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa. For updates see dedicated page.
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3-page 2008 review of `Jacobean Visions`by Leland Poague in Screening the Past (see sidebar)
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Guest Discussion Panel, JFK-I Nov 4th 2008 Election Night.
- Grading in-coming Research Papers by graduate students of the John F. Kennedy Institute, Freie University of Berlin
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Journalism & Commentary on the Berlinale, Apple Pro-Cut World Tour, the CNN Hologram, The Shakespeare Players (Berlin), & Verdi in Berlin
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Membership 2008 : European Network for Cinema and Media Studies; prepared proposal for the Lund 2009 Conference with co-founder of the NECS Screenwriting Workgroup, Claus Tieber, Institut für Theater- Film- und Medienwissenschaft, Universität Wien.
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Contributed article for Praxis Englisch on Hollywood (Winter 2008), Editor Daniella Aue.
December 2008-
Sept 13th 2008 Solo Discussion Guest: Kaos Kino Klub, Berlin on the subject of `Manufacturing Dissent` (2007) , see right sidebar.
At the Kaos Kino Klub, Berlin-
& Attended the Obama 200,000 party in Berlin, as glimpsed by ZDF TV:-
2007- 2009 J.F.K-I, F. U. BERLIN
Research & Teaching:
- `HOLLYWOOD`S LONELY PLACE`: Alan`s 2009 Spring course at the John F. Kennedy Institute of North American Studies concentrated on the post 1920s histories and working practices of the screenwriting process. This was Alan`s fifth programme for the Department of Culture since Spring/Summer 2007 and was suited for students undertaking BA Advanced study only.
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This followed the Autumn 2008-2009 BA Advanced Course: `Hollywood Snoops`: Welles, Hitchcock, Fuller and Morris.
FURTHER INSIGHTS & ACTIVITIES
FILM STUDIES & MEDIA PRODUCTION
UK, Oxfordshire: I first developed my film courses while lecturing in Oxfordshire where I was Course Leader in National Diploma Media Production (drama, animations & documentaries) and where I also lectured on both the National Diploma and Higher National Diploma courses in Working Practices, Screenwriting, Critical Theory & Film Studies.
Related appointments also included Subject Leader in Media Studies, Film Studies and American Studies.
Germany, Mainz & Berlin: Since then, I have led 75 University lectures at the Seminar für Filmwissenschaft, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany, that covered:
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Nicholas Ray & The USA
- British Film and Television Comedy
- The Life and Times of the Hollywood Screenplay
- British Film Industry – institutions, producers, genres
- the Hollywood Representation of Broadcast News Journalism & Reality TV (1976-1999).
The five courses were undertaken on the invitation of Uni. Prof. Dr. Thomas Köbner (ret)
BERLIN: 2006-2008
The fusion of Film, Media and American Studies continued to Berlin where, for Summer 2007, I was appointed Guest Lecturer at the John F. Kennedy Institute of North American Studies at the Freie University of Berlin, with 64 registered students (below). The programme on US Film & Media supports the MA profile of the Department of Culture and continued into 2008 & 2009.
There is a very obliging profile on Alan Taylor by student journalist Tobias Jochum in the JFK-I Newsletter of June, 2007: page 11…
2001-2004: SCREENWRITING WORKSHOPS
Frankfurt am Main…One of my first initiatives when arriving in Germany, was to establish the Script Lab 5 at the Filmhaus Frankfurt/Main. This was focused on creating completed first-draft full length film & television scripts over five creative stages in nine months and incorporating invited guest speakers from across the film industry, from commissioning editors to directors.
Sofia…A further screenwriting programme – formally entitled KINOWORDS – was brought to Eastern Europe (New Bulgarian University, Sofia) in 2004. This covered Hollywood film histories, genre, writing practice, and involved PhD students of he Department of Mass Communication (Ass. Prof. Rusi Marinov) refining their team skills based on exercises in digital film practice.
2007: SUPPORTING MEDIA EDUCATION PEDAGOGY
KINOWORDS has recently led a seminar workshop as arranged by Armin Hottmann, the Berlin organizer of the Media Across the Curriculum initiative (Kulturring. e.V, Berlin) that brings together teachers in literature, sciences and history from across Europe for a week’s conference in Berlin.
The April 2007 programme was designed to instil best practice pedagogy in aspects of media literacy across related subjects.
Alan’s contribution focused on pre-production exercises in script interpretation, storyboard design and scene analysis – as based on well-established 2nd Term course exercises at the London Film School:-
“Alan Taylor, ein Absolvent der Londoner Filmschule, problematisierte in seinem Part die Inszenierung von kurzen Filmscripts mit Hilfe von Storyboards und Kameraplänen und motivierte alle, sich mehr Gedanken über die Bilderfolge in den Spielfilmen zu machen. Fünf Zweiergruppen verfilmten ein einseitiges Drehskript im Haus der Ernststraße und analysierten anschließend die unterschiedlichen Bildabfolgen – selten gab es während einer Fortbildung so viel zu lachen wie bei dieser Aufgabe.”
Summary references on this work from the Programme Organizer Armin Hottmann can be viewed here, in both German and English.
2005 BOOK PUBLICATION, TALKS & WEBSITE
2005: As well as teaching, I have, since 2001, researched written and published “We, the media…” (p. 415), an extensive account of US mainstream media, considering how Hollywood has represented the operations of news broadcasting since the 1970s.
The structured genre analysis is also enriched by contextual histories which consider relevant legal, institutional and political interventions in the early development of the U.S. public media.
This interdisciplinary approach is relevant in a study of film texts which themselves address vital contemporary concerns in media ownership, gender representation, mergers, free speech, new technologies, and the powers of market journalism itself.
REVIEW on “We, the media…”
“Alan Taylor’s penetrating study examines how the U.S. media shape the public discourse and, consequently, American foreign policy…
“Alan Taylor’s penetrating study examines how the U.S. media shape the public discourse and, consequently, American foreign policy…
Taylor identifies how cross-ownership is used to reinforce this ideological message – specifically, how film is used to reinforce the legitimacy of another medium: news broadcasting…Taylor takes a historical approach to the evolution of U.S. corporate media, from the beginning of the U.S. broadcast system in the 1920s to the media coverage of the Iraq war, paying particular attention to the events of 9/11. The author declares: “The question to ask is: have we invited a press to witness a war, or have we created a war to prove that this freedom of expression is possible?”
Taylor identifies how cross-ownership is used to reinforce this ideological message – specifically, how film is used to reinforce the legitimacy of another medium: news broadcasting…Taylor takes a historical approach to the evolution of U.S. corporate media, from the beginning of the U.S. broadcast system in the 1920s to the media coverage of the Iraq war, paying particular attention to the events of 9/11. The author declares: “The question to ask is: have we invited a press to witness a war, or have we created a war to prove that this freedom of expression is possible?”
Taylor employs elements of a number of approaches – Rhetorical resp. Dramaturgical Perspective, and certain key elements of the Auteur theory – sometimes moving from one approach to another. He establishes a historical overview, generating a chronology that demonstrates the development of the concentration of ownership n the U.S. media…One of the objectives of the book, then, is to encourage a more active citizenry: a “wakeful political literacy” that promotes critical understanding of the current state of American mainstream media.
Taylor employs elements of a number of approaches – Rhetorical resp. Dramaturgical Perspective, and certain key elements of the Auteur theory – sometimes moving from one approach to another. He establishes a historical overview, generating a chronology that demonstrates the development of the concentration of ownership n the U.S. media…One of the objectives of the book, then, is to encourage a more active citizenry: a “wakeful political literacy” that promotes critical understanding of the current state of American mainstream media.
The book also examines the pedagogical implications of this ideological function of the U.S. mass media., calling for a curriculum that encourages critical thinking skills…Altogether, this is a very thorough, penetrating study that furnishes a valuable perspective into the American media system”
The book also examines the pedagogical implications of this ideological function of the U.S. mass media., calling for a curriculum that encourages critical thinking skills…Altogether, this is a very thorough, penetrating study that furnishes a valuable perspective into the American media system”
Professor Art Silverblatt, Department of Communications and Journalism, School of Media Literacy, Webster University, Missouri. In Publizistik, Vol 51, # 4, Dec 2006,ISSN: 0033-406.
Professor Art Silverblatt, Department of Communications and Journalism, School of Media Literacy, Webster University, Missouri. In Publizistik, Vol 51, # 4, Dec 2006,ISSN: 0033-406.
2005: Eastern Europe, Public Talks & Media Commentary
These topics were the focus of public 2005 talks at the Centre of Bulgarian Filmmakers. Details of the talks – on US film and television histories – are here, in Bulgarian:
And the Powerpoint presentation for Day Two is…here. as is the summative national press review,…here.
Postmodern Excess – We, the Media on BNT, Sofia
The public talks were soon followed with a prime time national broadcast interview with lead anchor Julia Manelova on NBU TV, Sofia (pics, above and below).
Our 15 min live morning interview discussed U.S media laws, notably the 1987 rescindment of the Fairness Doctrine, a media history of much public importance in contemporary Eastern Europe.
Public talks and media appearances were very kindly arranged, technically administered and coordinated by the creative team as led by Petko Doumana at Inter-Space Arts in Sofia (see sidebar).
PRODECUM: USA, EUROPE, RUSSIA
2006 Book Editor – ‘Healthywords’: Medical Communications
In advancing my interest in Health Literacies, I recently edited Healthywords (2006, pp. 189), a workbook for Medical Communications Managers. This was one feature of my voluntary work for PRODECUM, the Professional Development Curriculum, that promotes professional practice for specialists in media and pharma:- http://prodecum.edublogs.org
Recent collaborations, notably through the work of Dr. Diana A. Taylor, MSc, have been with the J.W. Goethe University of Frankfurt (2004 & 2006), marcus evans international (2005), The DIA (2005), Genresearch, Mosow (2005), Informa/IIR (2006/2007/2008), and the Max Planck Institute of Research, Frankfurt/Main & Dresden (2006); The Charité, Berlin.
2007 BOOK PUBLICATION & CURRENT RESEARCH
The 2007 publication and website Jacobean Visions: Webster, Hitchcock and Google Culture (pp. 201) is now available:-
Book Overview: “This stridently interdisciplinary study builds on recent postmodern advances in theatre, film, and media studies – in areas of identity, gender, and narrative – to argue for a realignment of cinema’s own dissembling urban ironist, Alfred Hitchcock, within the Jacobean dramaturgical lineage. In defence, the study juxtaposes revitalized texts, such as Webster’s The White Devil (1612) and Hitchcock’s newly restored films, primarily Vertigo (1958), that, since the 1980s, have powerfully resonated as totemic limit texts with present day audiences…”
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Original book cover photography of the Berlin Filmhaus is by the author and is printed with kind permission of the Filmmuseum/Library, Berlin.
CURRENT RESEARCH
At the moment, lots of blended reading into the representation of contrasting cognitive learning curves in U.S. cinema, as explored in recent teaching (JFK-I, FU, Berlin).
The 2009 move to South Africa will naturally prompt a range of publication initiatives in film, media & drama.
EVENT ORGANIZER & JOURNALISM
INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL FILM NETWORK, 2004-2008
As well as these formal academic ventures, I am volunteer event organizer in an independent international network that combines the potential of the Internet, digital technologies and live creativity – as German Representative of Cinemasports, the internationl network of digital filmmakers as based in San Francisco and which now extends to Sofia and Moscow.
KINOWORDS has been instrumental in bringing events to Frankfurt/Main, Mainz, and more recently Berlin (July 2007), and linking the work of colleagues in London, San Francisco, Paris and Sofia.
A collaboration with Drop Fair Productions (New York/Berlin) resulted in this short film as Directed by Robert Rapoport and co-starring Judith Georgi & Diana A. Taylor. Filmed, edited and shown in 12 hours, it drew upon our collaborative commitment to creative improvisational teamwork:- http://dropfair.com/the-salvation-itch/
EDITOR & WRITER: CULTURAL AFFAIRS
Alan currently writes for the EuropeFront & AmericaFront on-line news services.
Recent Berlin coverage has included the exclusive presentation of Robert Redford’s Lions for Lambs (2007, r), the opening of the 23rd International Short Film Festival, and an interview with Martin Wiebel, former Head of Drama, West Deutsch Rundfunk/film producer (Rosa Luxembourg, Rosenstrasse); the Russian Film Festival, Berlin; Shakespeare Players, Berlin, the November 2007 opening of the Graduate School of the John F. Kennedy Institute by Joschka Fischer, the 2008 Presseball & film press conferences (Nicholson, Freeman, Reiner, 2007).
Berlinale 2008
2008 video production work covered the operations of the Script Station at the Berlinale Talent Campus that featured consultant, author & literary agent, Julian Friedmann, below.
In addition, the edited article covering the Screen International Sales and Marketing Conference, Berlin, is now available from Professional Production Magazine, April 2005: “Der von Screendigest zu Beginn der Berlinale ausgerichtete European Film Finance and Sales Summit brachte den Zuhörern rare Blicke hinter die Kulissen des Filmgeschäfts. Das prall gefüllte Programm fasst Dr. Alan Taylor zusammen. Unter denen, die die Zuhörer an ihren Erfahrungen teilhaben ließen, waren der renommierte Produzent Tarak Ben Ammar (»Das Geld, das wir nicht investieren, ist das Geld, von dem wir nicht profitieren«), Tim Haslam von Dreamachine (»Wir müssen Filme machen, die die Sender kaufen wollen«), die Produzentin Parminder Vir (»Indien ist nicht ein Land, sondern sieben«) und Ben Waisbren von Continental Entertainment Capital (über die Studios: »Denk dran, du bist nicht ihr Partner, sondern ihre Beute«). Das achtstündige Programm brachte kernige Einsichten von führenden Experten, wie dem radikalen Wandel der Märkte – Globalisierung, neuen Technologien, veränderten Finanzierungsinstrumenten – begegnet werden könnte….” (April, 2008).
A full English version appears in the May 2008 publication of The Scritpwriter Magazine, UK, now `12 Point Courier`
And, not to mention and congratulate friend Steve Hardie of Team Morris which strolled away with the Jury Prize Silver Bear for their film Standard Operating Procedure (2007). This was the subject of my 2008-2009 HOLLYWOOD SNOOPS course at the JFK-I: http://kinowords.wordpress.com/jfk-i-courses-07-09/07-08-hollywood-snoops-jfk-i-berlin/
Finally….back in the first-person singular…
I look forward to developing further productive collaborations with institutions of education, media organisations and publishers.
Thanks for visiting…
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ALAN TAYLOR
BA, joint hons (Keele); Diploma (London Film School);
PGCE (Oxford); MA (IOE, London); Dr. phil (Mainz)
